30

Third Person's POV

Shivering from being drenched in the rain, Khushi tentatively entered Arnav's room.

Relieved at not seeing Arnav in the room, she was about to go to the bathroom to take a hot shower and change for the night when she heard his angry voice.

"Where the fuck were you, Khushi?"

Khushi slowly turned around to see Arnav sitting on a couch by the window. She gulped, feeling goosebumps erupt over her entire body at his angry stare, but she held her ground.

"I was feeling suffocated with your bodyguards being around me all the time. I needed to get some air," Khushi answered, trying her best to steady her voice.

"Hmm, is that so?" Arnav stood up from the couch, a thoughtful expression on his face as he walked toward Khushi.

"Don't you lie to me, Khushi. Tell me, why did you run away?" Arnav asked Khushi, now clutching her jaw hard.

Khushi felt her eyes tear up due to the pain as Arnav roughly clutched her jaw. "I am telling the truth, Arnav."

Still clutching her jaw, Arnav pulled Khushi closer to him. "If you going to get some air was really the reason, then, my dear wife, this is the first and the last time you got that air. Starting this moment, I forbid you to step out of this mansion. You are only allowed to roam around in this mansion. Get as much air as you want but only inside this mansion. You are not allowed to go out to the garden too. Is that understood?"

"I thought you wanted to earn my forgiveness. I thought you wanted to make me love you so we could work in this marriage together. Is this how you want to do it? By making me your prisoner?" Khushi asked Arnav, her voice angry and stiff.

Loosening his hold on her jaw, Arnav pushed Khushi back to let her fall on the bed. He hovered over her, his lips just a few centimeters away from hers.

"Do you have any idea how I felt the whole day when I did not know where you were? Do you know how many people I called who have been looking for you the entire day?

"I thought you ran away from me. I thought you would never come back. I thought I had lost you. Do you even know what kind of hell I lived through today, thinking of not being able to see you or be with you anymore? Do you have any idea, Khushi? Do you?" Arnav's voice carried the rage he felt from within.

Khushi pushed Arnav away from him and stood up from the bed. She knew she needed to handle this matter delicately.

After what she did the whole day today, after everything positive that happened today, she cannot let anything ruin her plan. And if she needs to be nice to this asshole until her plan succeeds, then so be it.

"I am sorry I pushed you. You being angry with me and hovering over me brought bad memories, and I could not control myself," Khushi said, smirking inwardly as guilt colored Arnav's face.

'This is nothing, Arnav Rathore. You will feel so much more than just guilt in a few days. Just wait and see.'

With that thought in her mind, Khushi walked to Arnav and, biting down nausea she felt at being within his proximity, she gently placed her hand over his cheek.

"I will not run away from you, Arnav. I promise you. If I ever go away from you, I will hold my head high and tell you before I walk out from here right in front of you. But I will never run away," Khushi said to Arnav, trying to bring out a soft expression on her face.

"I won't ever let you run or walk away, Khushi. You are mine, and you will stay here as mine, be it with your will or against your will. I do not care." Arnav caressed Khushi's hair for a few seconds before yanking it.

With a painful expression on her face, Khushi tried to pry her hair away from Arnav's hand. "Why do you keep hurting me, Arnav? I thought we were already past that."

"I thought so too, Khushi, but you ran away today and hurt me. So, you have to bear the consequences," Arnav said, and Khushi froze as soon as she heard that word.

No matter how much she tries to strengthen herself, a few fears from her nightmarish memories with Arnav still have power over her.

"C..co..consequences?" Khushi stuttered the word.

Arnav loosened his hold over Khushi's hair and backed away immediately when he saw the fear resurface in her eyes. He felt the guilt bubble inside him when he saw her shaking.

He knew it was not due to her wet clothes but because of her fear of him and what he had done to her repeatedly after their marriage.

"Not that consequence, Khushi. I have given you my word. I won't lay a hand on you without your consent. But yes, there will be other consequences. Maybe this time, your parents will face those consequences." Arnav smirked at Khushi.

Khushi paled when she heard Arnav. "What the hell, Arnav? How dare you say that? What are you going to do to Maa and Papa?"

"I got them moved to another hospital, you see. I had thought that would be a way to have my hold on you to make you return after your little stunt today. But since you have returned by yourself, I can use them to torture you now. To show what happens when you try to go against me," Arnav said to Khushi.

"But I did not go against you. I have returned. For you, for us, for our marriage," Khushi lied, hoping to convince Arnav.

Arnav looked at Khushi for a while, trying to gauge if she was telling the truth. "Ok, Khushi. I won't do anything to them for now. But they will remain at that hospital, and you will not know their location. Move one toe out of my line, and you will see how much of a monster I can be."

Saying that, Arnav walked out of the room, dialing a number in his phone, and Khushi slumped to the ground.

"I already know how much of a monster you are, Arnav. And today, I got to know your sister is an even bigger monster than you," Khushi whispered, recounting everything that happened after she ran away from the temple today morning.

***********

Khushi

Reaching Anusha's house, I rang the doorbell, waiting for someone to open the door.

My heart was pounding against my chest, and I kept looking behind and around to see if I was being followed.

It has already been about an hour since I ran from the temple, and I am sure those bodyguards have already informed Arnav and Anjali regarding it.

Before I could think about Arnav and Anjali's reaction to my escape, the door opened, and I saw an elderly man look at me from the other side of the threshold.

"Yes? How can I help you?" The man asked.

"Is this Anusha Mehta's house?" I asked and saw the man immediately stiffen.

"What do you want?" His voice sounded angry, and I wondered why it was so.

"I am Khushi, Anusha's friend. I was hoping if—" I was saying, but he interrupted him.

"I have never heard my daughter mention your name. All her friends also used to come to her house, but I don't remember you coming. Don't you dare fool me, girl. I had made the mistake of allowing two strangers at my house when they claimed to be Anusha's friends, and they were the ones who took her away from my wife and me. Anusha is our only daughter, and now we have no idea where she is," the man said tearily, and I felt a pinch in my heart as I looked at his sad face.

"Uncle, please believe me. I agree I lied about being Anusha's friend, but I am not here to harm you or anyone else. I am here because Anusha gave me this address and told me to find crucial evidence here," I told him honestly and noticed him frown.

"Are you really speaking the truth? Where did you see my daughter? Is she fine?" He asked me, but I could not answer him. Knowing how Anusha had been kept in that basement, I am unsure if Anjali has kept her alive until now.

"I do not know, uncle. All I can tell is Anusha had told me to come to her house and get the evidence from her room that could help punish her culprits. Please let me come inside, uncle. Please," I requested him, hoping he would relent.

"Let her come in, Naresh." An elderly lady came to the door.

"But, Sumitra—" Naresh uncle was saying when the lady interrupted him.

"She was my daughter too, Naresh. And when I say 'she was,' I know the worst has happened to her, and she won't return to us. She was my only child. A mother always knows when her daughter is—" Sumitra aunty could not complete the sentence, but I understood what she left unsaid, and the way she was sobbing, I felt my heart go out to her.

"Don't say that, Sumitra. Our daughter will come back. We can't lose hope," Naresh uncle said, and I could see he, too, was struggling to keep himself together.

"No, Naresh. We should accept the reality and hope that her culprits get caught. Only that can give peace to our daughter now," Sumitra aunty said and turned to look at me.

"Do you think you can get justice for our daughter?" Sumitra aunty asked me.

"Yes, aunty. Because those are not only Anusha's culprits but mine too, and maybe many other girls' culprits too. I will try my best to get justice for Anusha, me, and all those other girls," I said to them, and they frowned at me.

"But you are well and alive. How can they be your culprits, then? And who are the other girls you are talking about?" Naresh uncle asked me.

"Yes. I am breathing, uncle. But I am no longer well and lively. I agree that they have not killed me yet but have certainly done worse. And believe me, when I say just killing me would have been better than what they have done to me in the past two months," I answered, biting my lips to hold my sobs in. It is still hard for me to talk about all those things because it makes me relive those worst memories.

I could see Naresh uncle was still contemplating whether to let me in, but I could also see understanding in Sumitra aunty's eyes. I hoped they would allow me to go to Anusha's room so I could get the evidence against Anjali.

"You can come in, child, and go to Anusha's room. May you find what you want to give those culprits the worst possible punishment," Sumitra aunty said and stepped aside to let me inside their house.

***********

I looked at my watch as I reached my friend Nisha's house. It was already 5 pm, and I am sure Arnav must have already pulled all his contacts to search for me.

It had taken me about 3 hours for me to find the evidence in Anusha's room. I searched everywhere, in every corner of her room but could not find anything.

It was only later that I found a hollow space on her room's floor, and when I picked up the wooden flooring from that space, I found a sealed envelope. Inside it were a letter and a pen drive.

In the letter, Anusha had written that the pen drive contained evidence against Anjali Rathore. It also included a warning for the person who found the evidence.

She had written that whoever found this evidence to get to someone the person trusts and not to the police. If taken to the police, the person's life will be in danger.

I could not understand why she said so, but I decided to heed her advice and did not take the evidence to the police.

Instead, I brought it to Nisha's house as she is a crime reporter, and I trust her. I am sure she will help me with this and guide me on how to use this evidence.

I still do not know what is in the pen drive because I have not opened it yet. I could not watch the contents in Anusha's house because I did not want to endanger her parents. If they got any whiff about Anjali being their daughter's culprit, they would decide to do something about it, which could have placed them in danger.

That is why I walked out of the house as soon as I got the evidence, but not before promising them I would do anything I could to bring justice to Anusha.

My chain of thoughts broke when Nisha opened the door.

She frowned, looking at me, and peered for a while. Then she gasped and hugged me when she recognized me.

"Khushi, how are you? How have you been? And why have you not been responding to any of my messages? Were you so busy at your sister's wedding that you forgot all your friends?" Nisha fired her questions, not letting me speak at all.

"Nisha, I will answer all your questions. But please let me inside first," I said to her, looking around carefully before entering her house.

I noticed Nisha frown as she looked at me. "Why have you covered yourself completely with that shawl, Khushi? It had been so hard for me to recognize you with only part of your face visible through that shawl."

I uncovered my face and sat down on her couch. "I do not have much time to explain everything to you, Nisha. So, your questions will have to wait for now."

She narrowed her eyes when she heard me. "Are you in trouble, Khushi? Tell me, what's wrong?"

"Can you please first bring your laptop here? I need to see what is in this pen drive," I said, taking out Anusha's pen drive from my pocket.

"Ok. My laptop is in my bedroom. Give me five minutes." Saying that, Anusha went to her room to get her laptop.

***********

"What the heck is this, Khushi? Who? How?" Nisha could not properly form her sentence as we continued looking at the video on the screen.

But at least she could talk, whereas I felt frozen on the couch, unable even to react or say something.

"Khushi, tell me. What is this? And who is this woman?" Nisha asked, and I opened my mouth to answer her but could not get my words out.

When I did not speak for a while, Nisha kept her hands on my shoulder and shook me gently. "Khushi, are you fine? Why are you not answering?"

This time I spoke, although my mouth was too dry and my voice hoarse. "This woman is a monster, Nisha. A monster."

"We need to get this evidence to the police, Khushi," Nisha said to me, and I immediately shook my head.

"No, Nisha. You had read what Anusha had written in that letter. We cannot get this to the police. Maybe Anusha warned us because she knew someone in the police was in league with Anjali. I had seen that man in the basement of Rathore Mansion, Nisha. He could be Anjali's partner, and he could be the one in the police too. We cannot take that risk," I reasoned with Nisha.

"You are right, Khushi. What should we do then? Should we air this clip on my channel? That way, no police, whether in league with Anjali or not, would be able to help her. She would be arrested, and the whole world would know about her crimes," Nisha suggested.

I pondered on Nisha's words. It was undoubtedly a good plan, but I could not bring myself to go through with it. Because, along with Anjali, I need to punish Arnav too.

Even if Anjali got arrested due to this clip being aired, Arnav would try his best to get her out of prison. After all, he has so much money at his disposal to get to the right contacts and get his sister out of this trouble.

Also, what about his crimes? If I only aired this and got out of their lives, Anjali could walk scot-free with the help of Arnav, and Arnav, too, will not face any punishment for all the hell he put me through.

'I need to plan something. Something to get both Arnav and Anjali to feel the weight of their crimes and get arrested," I thought, looking at the video carefully, hoping to find something crucial.

I was still looking, listening to the conversation between Anusha and Anjali, when it clicked in my mind.

"Khushi, what are you thinking about? Shall I call my editor and tell him about this clip?" Nisha asked me.

I quickly stood up from the couch, a plan already starting to form in my mind. "No, Nisha. Do not inform anyone about this clip just yet. Please copy it to your laptop and make a few more copies and keep them in safe places so we would have backups. And please give one copy to me too."

"What are you planning to do, Khushi?"

"I am going back to Rathore mansion, Nisha. There is one more person I need to get arrested along with Anjali."

"Who?" Nisha asked me.

"My husband," I replied to her, and when I noticed her about to ask more questions, I took a deep breath, getting ready to tell my friend about the crimes committed by Arnav Singh Rathore.

***********

With the recollection of today's events still playing in my mind, I slowly stood up from the floor and walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

Taking off my clothes, I stood beneath the showerhead, remembering how shocked Nisha had been when I told her everything that had happened to me since that fateful wedding night.

She did not want me to return to Rathore Mansion, but I had been adamant.

'I cannot let Arnav walk away free after what he did to my parents and me. And I also cannot risk Anjali walking out of prison with Arnav's help. I need to hit them both where it hurts the most.'

Thinking that, I remembered that one part of the video which would be my focus. If Anjali confessed to that, there is no way Arnav would ever forgive her.

"And that would be the time I would hit him with more truths and taunts, letting him know what he lost to protect his murderer sister," I whispered, vowing not to rest until I give both these siblings the punishment they truly deserve.